Windows 7

How Do I Burn a Bootable Flash Key?

While working from my hotel this week at VMworld 2010, it was necessary to rebuild my computer for some labs I was working on.

There are two ways to build a bootable Flash key with an OS. You can do it via command line or with the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool.

Let’s go over both methods and you can decide which one you prefer.

I created a detailed how-to on this in a previous articles which was posted on TechRepublic. You can take a look at how to create an installation flash drive for Windows 7 and try it yourself.

Now let’s move on to the method that I prefer. Begin by downloading Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Once installed Click the Start | Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool. The following tool opens, as shown below:

Next, click Browse and select your ISO image as shown in the screenshot below. Most downloads of software today are ISO images that allow you to burn DVD’s or run in virtual machines.

You have the option of choosing to create a USB or DVD media. For the purposes of this blog post, we will choose USB Device as shown below.

Finally, click Begin Copying. A message appears with the following information: “You have selected to erase all of the contents from the selected USB device (drive letter). All contents on this device will be lost. Are you sure you want to do this?” Click Yes, as shown below, and your bootable device is created.

Once completed, the USB device is ready to load the installation media. For example, I chose Windows 7 ISO image and 5 minutes later I had a flash key ready to load Windows.

Which of the two methods do you prefer? In my mind, it is a no brainer.